Faucet



Aug. 4, 1936. 5 RICE I 2,049,663

FAUCET Filed Aug. 22, 1954 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS of Fig. 4;

Patented Aug. 4, 1936 sires rtur oreics FAUCET poration of DelawareApplication August 22,

v3 Claims.

The present invention pertains to a novel faucet for controlling theflow of fluids and liquids, the faucet being more particularly designedfor use as a water faucet.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a' valvewherein the pressure of the water in a line upon which it is mountedacts to positively maintain a valve element upon its seat. In utilizingthe. pressure of the water to seat the valve element difiiculty wasencountered in that as the valve element is moved into close proximityto its valve seat the pressure of the'water caused the valve element toclose very rapidly with the result that the flow of Water was veryabruptly stopped. Such abrupt stopping of the water flow was found tohave destructive effect upon the piping system in that it set up ahammering action, .or in other Words, an excessive amount of vibration.Such vibration. however, has been overcome in the present device by theprovision of a specially devised valve element which functions togradually slow down the rate of flow of the water so that as the valveelement is finally brought into engagement with its seat the completestopping off .of the water flow is gradual and not suiiiciently abruptto set up any vibration.

Another .object .of the present invention isto provide a .faucethaving avalve element which may be readily removed for repair or replacement,and an actuating means for the valve element which cannot at any time beremoved.

With the above and other ends in View reference is had to theaccompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation;

Fig. 3 is another side elevation;

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section;

Fig. 5 is a cross section taken on the line ti -:5

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the valve element, and

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional detail.

The faucet comprises a hollow body generally designated l, the bodyhaving substantially parallel vertical side walls 2 and 3 closed at thefront by a wall 4, the latter being arcuately shaped when viewed as inFig. 4. The rear wall 5 of the valve body co-operates with the walls 2,3, and 4 in completing a closed chamber 6 to which access may be had bythe provision of a. removable plug 1 in the top thereof. Opening intothe chamber 6 is an inlet port 8 th latter 1934, Serial No. 740,985

being provided by forming a tubular projection on the body I. The faucetbody is attached to any suitable water pipe line system by means ofscrew threads 9.

An outlet port In communicates with the faucet chamber 6 through a boreH, the bore ll being counterbored at its upper end to provide a valveseat I 2. The bore H, valve seat 12 and plug 1 aredisposed in co-axialalignment, and the plug '1' is provided with an axial bore I3. (lo-axial1 with' the bores H and L3 are provided guides M.

I As shown more clearly in Figs. 4 and 6, a valve element I5 is providedwith rack teeth 16 and a slotted pilot ll receiving a set screw l8. Thevalve element I5 is axially pierced as at I 9 to i receive a stem 21!!having an enlarged head 2| formed thereon. The head it is very slightlytapered toward its lower end and it will be unders ood that th amo t oap r own n h dr wing has been exa gerated for t purpos of illustration.In the actual construction the diameter of the smallest point is fromtwo to four one thou andths smaller than .at the largest point. The stem2i] is retained in the valve element [5 by a diametrically extending pin22 and a com- 20 p essible Valve head .23 is sleeved on the stem 21] andis interposed between the head 2! and the bottom of the valve elementl5. The outer end of thehead 21 is formed with grooves Zia. n

The Valve element 1 5 is assembled in the faucet by removing the plug 1and inserting the element in the guides ,M and then replacing the plug.The valve element will thus be disposed with the tapered head 2|extending into the bore H, the co pressi l a v head 23 rest ng on the eaand the pi t J :sli ab v received in the bore l3.

wall 2 is formed with a bearing 24 rotatablv supporting one end .05 ashaft 25. the t r end of the shaft extending through a bearing 26 in adisk '2] which is permanently secured, gas by soldering, in an opening28 in the wall v3. On the shaft 25 is provided a gear sector 19 whichmeshes with the rack teeth I6 on the valve element l5. In the disk 21 isprovided a packing element 30 and a plug 3| for compressing the same. Onthe outer end of the shaft 25 is provided a squared or angular portion32 receiving a handle 33 which is secured in place by a nut 34. 50

In operation, water under pressure enters the chamber 6 through theinlet port 8 and acts upon the valve element l5 and pilot I! to forcethe compressible valve head 23 into engagement with the seat. The smallamount of movement 55 V of the valve element necessary for such afunction is derived by providing a slight amount of looseness in themeshing of the gear segment 29 with the rack teeth [6, so that if thevalve element should be moved into close proximity to the seat byrotating the handle 33 a small amount of movement can take place withoutfurther rotation of the handle. Uponrotation of the handle 33 with theparts positioned as shown in Fig. 4 the valve element is caused to beraised so that the valve head 23 is lifted from the seat l2 and thetapered head 2! is withdrawn from the bore ll. As the valve head 23 isunseated flow of I water can take place through the bore l l, and therate of flow gradually increases as the tapered head H is withdrawn fromthe bore. The clearance between the head 2| and the wall of the bore Hhas been exaggerated for the sake of illustration, in actual practice,the clearance provided being from two to four one thousandths of aninch.

When the handle 33 is rotated manually, in the opposite direction thetapered'head 2| enters the bore II and gradually obstructs the flow ofwater so that at the time the compressible valve head 23 engages theseat l2 the fiow has been decreased to such an extent that noappreciable vibration results from the final closing off of the water.

Obviously the amount of retraction of the tapered head 2| from the borell governs the rate of flow of water through the bore H, and the amountof retraction of the head 2| is determined by the amount of movement ofthe valve element l5. To limit the amount of movement of the head 2] theset screw l8 may be adjusted so that engagement thereof with the end ofthe bore I3 will'provide a positive movement limit for the valve element15.

When the head 2i, is positioned substantially as shown in Fig. '7 thebottom thereof is approximately level with the top of the bore II, andit has been found thatwith the, head 2| so positioned the water passingthe 'same' to enter the bore ll becomes foamy. Such foaminess isundesirable and is eliminated by the grooves Zia, which permit lessrestricted flow of water when the head is so positioned than wouldordinarily occur at this time, with the result that the head 2! may bemoved into or out of the bore II without foaming of the water occurringat any stage of the movement thereof.

One advantage of the present type of valve is that the valve elements orthe valve heads 23 may be readily replaced in the event of wear byinexperienced personswhile such inexperienced persons'cannot remove theshaft 25 and gear segment 29. 7

Although a specific embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described it will be understood that various changes maybe made within the scope of the appended claims without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, and such changes are contemplated.

What I claim is:-

1. In a faucet, a body having an inlet and an outlet, a valve seat insaid body between said inlet and said outlet, a valve element in saidbody on the inlet side of said valve seat, a compressible valve head onsaid element adapted to engage said valve seat, a gradually tapered headon said valve element and adapted to extend through said seat when saidcompressible head is in engagement therewith, the end of said head whichprojects through said seat being provided with a plurality of diametricchannels of predetermined depth, and means for restricting movement ofsaid valve element in a direction away from said seat whereby when saidfaucet is fully opened a portion of said tapered head projects throughsaid valve seat and the bottoms of said channels are substantially inaplane with said valve seat.

2. In a faucet, a body having an inlet and an outlet, a valve seat insaid body between said inlet and. said outlet, a valve element in saidbody on the inlet side of said valve seat, a compressible valve head onsaid element adapted to engage said valve seat, a tapered headprojecting axially from said compressible head and adapted to extendthrough said valve seat when said compressible head is in engagementwith said valve seat, said tapered head and said valve seat beingrelatively proportioned whereby to provide a clearance approximating oneto five one-thousandths of an inch between the smaller outer end of saidtapered head and said valve seat, diametric channels formed in the outerend of said tapered head, and means for restricting move ment of saidvalve element whereby when said compressible head is in its farthestremote position with respect to said seat a portion of said tapered headstill'projects through said valve seat and the bottoms of said channelsare substantially in a, plane with said valve seat.

3. In a faucet, a body having an inlet and an outlet, a valve seat insaid body between said inlet and said outlet, a valve element in saidbody on the inlet side of said valve seat, a compressiblevalve head onsaid element adapted to engage said valve seat, a gradually tapered headon said valve element and adapted to extend through said seat when saidcompressible head is in engagement therewith, the end of said head whichprojects through said seat being provided with a plurality of diametric'channels of predetermined depth, and means for restricting movement ofsaid valve element in a direction away from said seat whereby when saidfaucet is fully opened a portion of said tapered head projects throughsaid valve seat and the bottoms of said channels are substantially in aplane with said valve seat, said restricting means comprising ascrewthreaded bore formed in the end of said valve element, a slotentering the end of said element and extending to a depth correspondingto the depth of said bore, and a set screw in said bore.

FRANK E. RICE.

